This guy says he ended up taking a helicopter to JFK because he was running late for a budget airline flight to London

23.08.2023 - 05:53 / insider.com / Gatwick Airport / London

One New York man says he was running late for his flight to London, so he took a chopper to the John. F. Kennedy Airport.

Traveler Kevin Droniak shared his experience in a TikTok post he made on August 18.

"My flight takes off in one hour and I'm still at my apartment in Manhattan," Droniak said in his video.

 "I'm not used to military time and I read 1820 as 1020. But it's actually 06:20 and right now it's 5 o'clock," Droniak added. "The only way for me to get there in time is by a helicopter."

Droniak included in a video a screenshot of his flight details. His trip on Norse Atlantic Airways flight Z0 702 was scheduled to leave New York at 6.20 p.m.

Droniak then filmed himself heading to the helipad to catch his chopper. 

"This is hilarious too because today I was like, I'm gonna be frugal and take the subway to JFK and save some money and now I'm taking a goddamn helicopter," Droniak said. "But it is cheaper than buying a new flight." 

Droniak then filmed himself boarding a chopper from New York Helicopter, a business that provides tours, chartering services, and airport transfers to customers. Other companies provide similar services, such as Blade, which charges $195 to fly from Manhattan and JFK in five minutes.

In heavy traffic, getting to JFK by car can take an hour. 

"I made it to the airport. It was only a 5-minute flight," Droniak said near the end of his video. Droniak said in the video, that when he arrived, there were still 30 minutes before the boarding gates closed. 

And Droniak might not have been kidding when he said the helicopter ride saved him some money. Norse Atlantic Airways is a budget airline, but a one-way ticket from New York to London costs between $300 to $400, per the carrier's website.

The chopper ride might have been the most luxe part of Droniak's journey across the pond to London. In a subsequent TikTok post on August 19, Droniak said his flight to London's Gatwick Airport "was so budget" that his "window seat didn't even have a window." 

Droniak did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.